Hello, my friends! I don't know about you,
but my April is blowing in like the lion March was supposed to
be rather than the gentle lamb of legend!
But
March was a wonderful month for me as a writer—earlier in the
month, I received word that I won a Career Achievement Award
as 2004 Series Storyteller of the Year from RT Bookclub
magazine, for my body of work. The award, to be handed out in
St. Louis on April 28, is chosen by the entire reviewing staff
of the magazine that is indisputably a force in the romance
world, so needless to say, I am incredibly honored...I thought
I'd have to be around way longer to be considered to have a
career! J If any of
you will be at the RT convention later this month, I sure hope
you'll stop me and say hi. I'll be signing at the Bookfair on
Sat. 4/30 and in the Hospitality Suite several times.
Then, a week ago, I received a call that I
am a finalist for the prestigious RITA™ award, the highest in
the romance industry (our genre's Oscar), singling out the best
romance fiction of 2004. The book up for the honor is A
Real Hero, part of my Deep in the Heart series,
which makes me especially glad because this book had a number of
taboo elements and was a gamble for Harlequin to publish. This
is my second nomination, and my heart was pounding just as
forcefully as the first time—and I'm even more honored and
excited! The black-tie awards ceremony will be July 30 at the
Romance Writers of America National Conference, this year held
in Reno.
In
the next few days, Forgiveness, the second half of
the Mother and Child Reunion duet, will appear on
bookshelves and is already available for pre-order through the
links on my website http://www.jeanbrashear.com.
If you read Coming Home, for
which I'm gratified to have received a lot of truly wonderful
and powerful responses, Forgiveness is daughter
Ria's book.
Once again, thank you for your
encouragement and support in this crazy venture of mine. It
turned my life upside down, but I wouldn't trade for a second of
the rollercoaster ride!
My heartfelt best wishes to you and yours,
